Stuck With You
by Tari Silmarwen
Summary: AU. One-shot. Lucy's soulmate counter runs down, and she's not entirely thrilled with the results. Nalu


(A/N)- From an AU prompt meme on Tumblr, anon asked for "Soulmate AU" with Natsu/Lucy.

I admit, I probably squeed a little.

Went with the premise of the magical counter on the wrist because it seemed easiest to weave it into Fairy Tail's magic system. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yadda yadda don't own, y'all aren't here for this.

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**Stuck With You**

Lucy slouched over the bench, her head on the wood, staring miserably at her left wrist, which displayed a prominent set of black zeros.

A magical timer, set to count down the exact days, hours, minutes, and seconds left until she would meet her "soulmate", the one she was destined to be with for the rest of her life. Her mother's idea. It had been the trendy thing to do at the time_—_all over Fiore people were getting it done_—_and Layla had thought it was terribly romantic. So she visited the nearest shop where they were being installed, towing a tiny pig-tailed Lucy behind her, and from that point on Lucy's arm had been glowing with iridescent green numbers, foretelling the day that she would meet the person of her dreams. Every day of her childhood the steadily-ticking counter had excited Lucy, who playacted many an elaborate scenario about the day they would meet, what she would say, how the wedding would go_—_much to the eternal consternation of Aquarius, who was often roped into said scenarios.

A lifetime of dreaming and planning the moment, picking out just the right clothes to wear the fortuitous day and practicing countless flirty speeches in her head.

And now it was at zero.

Lucy laid her arm down across the table with a sigh, lifting her chin a bit to look around the room.

If it had stopped when she'd first stepped into Fairy Tail's guild hall, that would have been different. Any number of the members here would have made a perfectly fine soulmate.

(Well, she amended to herself, sneaking a glance at the corner of the room where Jet and Droy were engaged in a brawl with Elfman, maybe not _any_ number.)

But no. She distinctly and vividly remembered what the clock had said that morning, when she'd dressed excitedly and hit the town to run a few errands before shopping for new keys, and there had not nearly or remotely been enough time between the figure on the counter and her arrival at Fairy Tail for anyone here to have been her soulmate.

Which meant that, unless she was destined for a life of crime and thievery at Bora's side (god, she hoped not), her soulmate's identity was… Natsu.

Loud, boorish, hot-tempered, dumbbutt Natsu.

Lucy wondered if Aquarius was laughing at her from the Spirit World.

She groaned in self-pity, pressing her forehead against the bench. It _would_ be just her luck.

"Hey Lucy!" called the voice of Natsu Dragneel himself. The fire-mage came up from behind her, thumping her gently on the back. His high spirits dimmed a little when he saw her slumped posture. "What are you so down for?"

She raised her wrist off the bench, holding it up to him so he could see the string of empty numbers. "I'm stuck with you forever," she muttered into her arms.

Puzzled, Natsu leaned back, looking at the black digits, and then held up his own left wrist to check his own counter.

"Huh," he said, blankly. "Wonder when that ran out." Grinning broadly, Natsu clenched his fists together in excitement. "Anyway, Lucy, let's go on a job! There's a town just north of here that's being swarmed by sea serpents! Right up our alley, yeah?"

Lucy turned her head, peeling her eyes from the grainwood of the bench and taking a good, long look at her soulmate.

All right, she'd admit it. He wasn't _that_ bad. Sort of attractive, with his slanted eyes and sharp-line face, his hair in wild and unruly pink spikes, and his lean, toned arms and chest. Playful and adventurous and certainly knew how to have a good time. Plus he _had_ saved her from those slavers. Maybe this wasn't going to be so terrible after all.

She cracked a wry smile. "Yep. You got it. That's right up our alley, Natsu," she agreed.

Natsu punched one hand into the other. "Great! Then let's go! There's no train route up that way and it's a four day journey by foot. If we hurry we can make it before the biggest monsters start their usual rampage." A wild gleam flickered in his eyes. "I'm fired up! Happy!" he called. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Aye Sir!" the blue-haired cat chirruped enthusiastically, flying over and joining Natsu as he ran out the door.

Lucy raised her head, scooting back from the table and starting to stand up.

Well, if she was going to be at Natsu's side for the rest of her life, she had better make sure he didn't hurt himself.

"Oy, wait for me you two!" she called out after them as she pumped her legs to catch up.


End file.
